As I entered the poor kitchen of the inn--for it was a sorry shed
altogether--there rose to meet me a figure which, if I live to
Methuselah's age, I shall not easily forget. He was tall and had the
limbs of a giant. His hair was tawny and inclined to red, and hung in
disorderly waves on his shoulders. His raiment--for he had flung his
scholar's cap and robe to a corner of the room--was poor and ragged, and
seemed scarcely to hang together on his brawny back. His arms were long
and nervous, and the hands at the end of them twitched uneasily even
while the rest of his body was motionless. His carriage was erect and
martial, and you knew not whether to admire most the weight and solidity
of the man as he stood still, or the tiger-like spring in every limb
when he moved.
Yet it was not one of these things which made me stand almost in awe as
I saw him. It was his face, which, if ever a man's face deserved the
name, was beautiful. I cannot explain why; for I have seen features
more finely carved and better proportioned in faces which never seemed
to me so beautiful as his. I have seen more strength of mouth, more
light of eyes, many a time, and yet never looked twice; I have seen
faces as noble which never struck me as his did. I know not how it was.
I think it was the expression which moulded all his face into a look,
partly wild, partly noble, partly sad, and wholly gentle. For as you
watched it, it changed like an April day from cloud to fair, from
thunder to lightning, from night to day; yet whatever came or went, the
look of a gentle man remained.
Man, did I say? He was scarcely my senior, even if he was my equal in
years; and his beardless chin and the boyish glow on his cheek made him
seem younger than he was.
But why all this picture-drawing of a stray Oxford student, whom, while
I talk about him, I keep standing in front of me on the floor of that
poor kitchen? You shall hear.
It was not to do me obeisance that he rose as I entered. His dirk was
drawn and his face was thunderous as he took a step forward and spoke.
"I want you not! So leave me."
My Lord Burleigh himself could not have spoken the words more royally,
although he would have spoken them with less music and more of an
English accent in his voice.
Now, moved as I was by the look of my companion, it offended me to hear
a loyal London 'prentice talked to thus like a dog, or, worse, like the
drawer of the inn.
"By your leave," said I, and it was not often I said as much to any man,
"unless you be the landlord of the place, I have as good a right to be
here as you."
"Then," said he, solemnly and, as I thought, sadly, "guard yourself." I
whipped out my sword. In my boastfulness, I thought I had too great an
advantage with my long weapon against his short and not too highly-
tempered blade, and I resolved with myself not to run him through if I
could otherwise satisfy him. But my tune changed as soon as we closed.
I could do nothing. My fine thrusts and parries wherewith I was wont to
set Finsbury Fields a-gaping all went for nothing. He got in at me over
my guard, under my guard, beside my guard, and through my guard. Nor
could I even do myself justice. For while I fenced, I was fascinated by
the flashing of his eyes and the noble gracefulness of his every motion.
In two minutes he had me disarmed, pinned up against the wall, as
helpless as a silly ox in the grip of a tiger.
It mortified me as much as anything to find that when he had me thus at
his mercy he dropped me half disdainfully, half pitifully, and put his
dirk back into its sheath.
"Will you go now?"
"No," said I, doggedly. For so chapfallen was I that I wished nothing
better than that he should do his worst with me.
At that he looked at me in solemn perplexity, and I expected to see his
hand back at his girdle. But, to my confusion, he only shrugged his
shoulders and turned away.
This completed my humbling; for no man had ever disdained me thus
before. I might easily have reached my sword, which lay at my feet, and
run him through before he could face round; yet he did not even deign to
notice me, and walked slowly to the fire, where he sat with his back to
me.